A Night In Helsinki – GLO Hotel Art review

The GLO Hotel Art is a beautiful little hotel situated right in the middle of the Design District, only a short walk from the commercial centre of Helsinki. On our travels, my brother and I were only in Helsinki for one night – so it made sense to get that night right and choose somewhere a little more exciting than a hostel, and we were really grateful for the opportunity to write a GLO Hotel Art review.

We arrived in the maze that is Helsinki Airport and found our way to the train, which took us directly into Helsinki central station. Thrust into this strange city, we were obviously eager to find a place to put our bags down for a while, so our first task was to find our bed for the night, at the GLO Hotel Art. It took us around 15 minutes to walk there at a decent clip, hauling a suitcase and rucksack through the city. The directions were super simple; walk down a road, take a left, take a right, follow the road and boom you’re there – from a convenience standpoint this was as good as it gets.

Upon entering the castle-like structure, we were immediately wowed. The building is a century-old Art Nouveau ‘castle’, slotted in neatly amongst the terraced city streets. The immediate feeling in the lobby was that of quality, everything was well-lit, beautifully designed and the staff were incredibly warm, welcoming and helpful (and as we came to find across the city, they spoke perfect English – thank goodness, as our Finnish is pretty much non-existent!). Check in was simple, we were handed our room keys and we heaved our cases the final few steps through the deceptively expansive interior.

Unusually, we didn’t simply walk behind reception to find our room – instead we headed back across the lobby and outside again for a brief moment before re-entering via a different entrance under an archway to find the stairs. The building was clean and well-designed throughout – I couldn’t spot anything I could fault them for. Importantly, the building is layered with lots of glass doors that require a keycard to enter, which really put us at ease when it came to leaving our belongings here (which can often be a worry when staying in a foreign city).

Our room, a GLO Comfort Twin, certainly had the wow factor. We entered the room and immediately claimed a bed each (We’re siblings. It’s essential.) and dumped our belongings. We were left a gorgeous welcome pack that included some much needed drinks in a ice bowl, a sweets kebab and chocolates alongside the usual tea/coffee equipment. The room already had the TV on, and the screen read “Welcome Cameron” which was a nice little detail and very cool.

The room’s décor was modern and very comfortable. The bathroom was spacious and had a wet room style shower unit that was only separated from the main bedroom by a tinted glass wall. This would have been absolutely lovely for a couples getaway, but for two brothers probably wasn’t ideal. Thankfully the glass is fogged across the middle to leave something to the imagination, but we just made a pact to look in the other direction for the duration of each other’s showers.

We relaxed in the luxurious room for a while, Joe taking to his plush bed, and me to the chair to settle down with my laptop (the Hotel’s wifi was superb) to get some photo’s processed. We felt treated to a life of luxury during our short but sweet stay here – and both felt a little short-changed that we really weren’t going to have time to appreciate it more fully. After we’d found something to eat we had a 4hr Bike Tour planned to see the sights of Helsinki.

Our connecting flights were early, so we had to leave the hotel by 6.30 the following morning – once we had returned from our night tour of Helsinki we literally showered, slept and left. That being the case, we never had a chance to make use of the GLO Hotel Art’s restaurant. It looked and smelled amazing from afar – but sadly we were in a rush both in the evening and then again in the morning to catch our flight.

On our walk back to the hotel late at night after our tour of Helsinki, we took our time to explore the local streets. The vibrant Design District in which the hotel is situated is brimming with shops, cafés and restaurants. The trendy urban environment was clearly popular with the local hipster community, and perfect for young travellers. I really wish I could have had longer to stay and absorb the atmosphere of such a cool city.
Alas, a few hours sleep were finally required, so we hit our beds and the screech of our alarm clocks meant we had to scarper back to the airport far quicker than we wished. But as we left we both made a pact that we would return before long to see more of the city; and there’s no doubt we’d be back to the GLO Hotel Art either. We can’t recommend it highly enough with perfect facilities, warm efficient staff and the best location – what more could you look for?

GLO Hotel Art is a different hotel experience in the heart of Helsinki. Just a 3-minute walk from the nearest bus stop, this refined hotel in an art nouveau-style building, is less than 2 km from both shopping at Market Square and the Kiasma contemporary art museum, and half a mile from the commercial centre of Helsinki; it is an excellent base for a visit to Helsinki.